A Colonel's Prerogative
by Passing Strangers
Summary: The Colonel's got something to say to Sam.


**A Colonel's Prerogative**

Author: Passing Strangers

Classification: S/J affection

Summary: the Colonel's got something to say to Sam

Author'snotes: formatting….not really my thing. Apologies.

I put this in season six a bit randomly, but it really fits anywhere. Change the relevant text in your head if it works better for you that way.

Disclaimer: The characters aren't really mine. I didn't make them, and to be honest i've never even met them.

There was something off in her fridge. The smell had been growing consecutively worse each time she had opened the fridge door, until now it hung continuously like a haze for meters around the general area. _Why, why, whyyyyy _she whined internally. Oh well, she thought. She was busy, and this would have to wait. Idly, she tried to think of something she could be busy with. _DINGDONG. _The chime of the doorbell was sufficiently unexpected to give her a moment's panic, until she realized that it was ok for people to ring your doorbell on a cheery Sunday afternoon. The fridge would have to wait. Haha, she was busy!

Sam opened the door, and once again was overcome for a second with panic. Jack O'Neill stood at her doorstep.

"Hi" he said, looking positively pleased with himself and sporting the biggest grin she'd seen from him, at least in a while.

"err, hi" she managed, somewhat startled in reply. She opened the door wide for him and he stepped energetically inside. He grinned down at her for a moment and then set off along her hallway in an excited march, only to turn unexpectedly and frown at her, nose crinkled, eyes darting around.

Wondering why he was here, and why, more curiously, he was suddenly looking so puzzled, she asked "is there something I can help you with?" Shaking his head and dispelling whatever he had been focusing on, Jack returned his attention to the woman in front of him, who now stood with arms crossed at her chest, leaning slightly against the wall.

"I'm proud of you" he announced suddenly, the grin back on his face.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Jack's grin broadened at the incredulous look on her face. He couldn't help it, he was just so damned pleased. Sam removed herself from the wall and shook her head, even as a small smile started on her face. She would not show him how delighted she was right now. Walking to lean against the other side of the hallway, arms again crossed in front of her, one knee propped against the wall, and that damned _smile _just not leaving her face, she waded in again. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"The results came back today. From those freaking annoying competency tests we had to endure a few months ago. And you Carter", he said, taking a step toward her, pointing a finger at her chest, "you came out number 1 on base." He paused for her to comment, to show even the slightest reaction, rather than the amused but affectionate expression she'd had on her face for most of the time since he bounced through her door. Nothing. He opened his mouth to continue, but left it hanging, to once again crinkle his nose and look around the room.

"Carter, what is that sm…"

"Is that what you came here to tell me? Sir, with respect, why are you…I mean why is that…sir, what I mean is…" Sam shook her head in confusion. She had known she would be number one. Of course she would be number one, surely everyone just knew that by now? There was nothing conceited about her assumption, it was just reality. It was all a simple equation; comparing her skills in each field of testing with all the other SGC employees, she averaged out on top. She wasn't as fast or as strong as many of the male soldiers, but she held her own enough in those areas of testing that her intelligence allowed her easy victory in other areas. Plus, she was a crack shot. So, unless she had a bad day, or someone else really outdid themselves (maybe Major Jenkins from SG-12...), she would always come out number one. And the Colonel, who had spent the last six years assuming she could literally do anything, would surely have seen this coming a mile off. So why was he so impressed right now?

"Carter I don't mean to be rude, but there is a seriously funky…"

"Sir. Umm, I don't mean to sound...arrogant...but…didn't you at least think it was…possible?"

"Well sure Carter, I would have lost $50 if you didn't."

Slight, bristling pause.

"So, why…"

"But then when you did, well, I can't explain it. I just felt so proud. Like I had grown used to you being freakishly brilliant at most things and I forgot how special that was. And I just realized it all over again."

The amused look was gone. Now she positively glowed. After 6 years of working side by side with this man, Sam was no longer desperate for his approval like she once might have been – the subordinate franticly scrabbling to please the superior - but his praise meant more to her now in another way. It told her that she was appreciated, valued, admired.

She liked this much better.

The hallway filled with silence that crackled slightly.

"Well, that's all I really came to say, just came over to, you know, tell you I was…proud." His work there was done, his mission was complete, and Sam could tell from his newly developed speech problem that the Colonel was awkward now and probably wanted to leave pretty quickly.

"Thank you for stopping by Colonel. I appreciate it."

"Sure thing" the Colonel drawled with a lazy grin and a twinkle in his eye (_oh-kay_, maybe not so awkward) before opening the door and moving through it.. "See ya tomorrow."

Closing the door behind him after watching him walk down her driveway for a few moments, Sam couldn't contain the warm tingle that had spread around her body. He was proud of her. Making her way back to the main part of the house, a little too dreamily for her liking, a sickly sweet aroma wafted idly down the hallway to meet her. Sam crinkled her nose in abstract confusion. Oh crap, she thought, as a number of things fell into place. It was the _chicken._

-end-


End file.
